Christianity is the only modern religion based on emotion, rather than reason, submission, devotion or some other. Christians apparently LIKE suffering—read: passion—and so don’t avoid it but seek it out, with daredevil stunts, extreme sports, torrid romances and hot hot bodies, buffed and tanned and laid in the sand, for hours at the time, until well-done…

Somewhere along the way we decided we liked all that and the word ‘passion’ took on new meaning, with a positive connotation, in life and in love. We’ll suffer for our art gladly, just like we’ll suffer for our sport, and we’ll suffer for love, just like Christ suffered for us, i.e. the ‘passion’, celebrated every year around this—Easter—time… (More …)

Now I have no problem with the LGBTQ community in general and would like to think I could even qualify as the ‘A’ in ‘ally’, not ‘alley’, that sometimes puts the pickle on that little alphabetic sandwich, attached by wooden toothpick and a little smile to last a little while, even though I don’t deliberately seek gays out, though seem to usually have one or two as friends, BUT…

…that doesn’t mean that I buy the entire narrative, especially the ‘born this way’ rap which was once de rigueur back in the days of last-line don’t-attack-the-victim defense, very quaint and old-fashioned charming now that ‘gender fluidity’ is all the rage, and there is increasingly little to be ashamed of in the first place, so no reason to claim DNA as a defense, if there is no offense, and given the lack of any proof of a ‘gay gene’ any more than a ‘basketball gene’ or even a ‘black gene’, really…

…given that pigment genes tend to mix, somehow, much less a ‘backpacker gene’, but what concerns me is the identity with sexuality—any sexuality—in the first place. Is this all we’ve accomplished in the last ten thousand years, to come to blows (no pun) over who gets access to whose genitals, and by what means and for what purpose? I guess so. Strike one for civilization, i.e. city-fication.

We were better off in the wild, where queer was queer, and that was that, no big deal and nothing to fear. Now we’re forced to draw the lines of decency, circling the wagons, dotting ‘I’s and crossing ‘T’s, consulting the prophets and taking a loss. What a waste of time, and what a loss of dignity, that we’re so busy greasing the wheels (pun) of our lower chakras, that we have no time for the larger questions with the trickier answers, enigmas all wrapped up in riddles and garnished with mysteries left to lightly ferment… (More …)

Is there anything more pathetic and disgusting than watching an old man trying to get it up just one more time, meter running, with multiple payment options? Enter Viagra, and sex tourism, and you name it: ‘Low T’ (testosterone), the male sex hormone, or absence thereof…

It’s all about reproduction, or dying trying, in this life in this world, in this dimension, in this plane of existence, Boeing 747’s equipped with 1st-class cubicles with reclining seats just in case the mood strikes, at the moment of inspiration at the moment of conception…

Welcome to Thailand, where ‘feed-us’ farming is the late-life equivalent of fetus-farming, for-hire breeding, artificial selection, putting guys out to pasture with hopefully one last biscuit in the oven, just to make things official, and put the young lady on an inheritance plan…

Low-T? Guys need to take meds for ‘low-T’? That’s like spitting in the face of God, as if Viagra, Cialis, and that pharmacopia weren’t bad enuf, pumps and pills and multifarious cheap thrills in the back seat of cars too small now for proper breeding, need an early model Cadillac…

It’s ironic that our major form of entertainment—sex—all around the world was never intended for entertainment at all, if we can correctly intuit the mind of God, but you gotta’ give it credit, maybe pandas should take a lesson and start chewing each others genitals instead of so much bamboo while they go happily extinct…

It’s just a chemical! Without that chemical testosterone and its stiffening influence on the lower extremities, all of our stories and music and literature and art would amount to little, all the philosophies and religion and denominations and free sects… (More …)

Funny how all the suicidal bombers and blow-up artists in the world have never been accused of being suicidal—okay, not so funny. But it certainly runs counter to the common narrative that depression is the cause of suicide—period. Narratives are not to be confused with truth, though, of course. People commit suicide for many reasons, including poverty, heartbreak, frustration, and old age, none of which are depression, strictly speaking.

Then there are so-called ‘suicide bombers’ in the service of various intifadahs and jihads, who give their lives so that others may have better lives, and to serve Allah, so to speak. So they aren’t truly suicidal; or are they? I’d like to offer another theory: now we all know the extents and depths to which sexual frustration can lead, but can it make you violent? Can it make you suicidal?(More …)

Okay, back to the work grind: creating the perfect religion. We’ve got work to do, and time is growing short. Some people say you can’t do that, cherry-pick the best of each religion, that you have to take them fully blown, as handed down, all or nothing. I call b*llsh*t. Ever heard of Protestantism? I smell the workings of religious corporatist monopolies whose major goal is to preserve themselves, not liberate you and me from the seminal sweat and tears of life on this planet and the fear and anxiety of life with no plan. Let’s cut to the chase scene: one man’s divine writ is another man’s working lunch.

So let’s get started. Here’s what we’ve got so far:

Building Blocks for the Perfect Religion:

Balance: the first tenet previously noted as primary in my metaphysical system is balance, the middle path, avoidance of extremes, and most importantly, everything—ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING—in moderation, the emphasis on balance matched by the emphasis on diversity…

Humility: second on my list, though not necessarily in importance, is humility, (not humiliation), either inflicted or received, simply a recognition that we are but small cogs in a very big picture and that our lives are infinitely better by finding our proper place within that system rather than trying to bully others and impose our will.

Okay, now let’s get this next tough one out of the way, since it won’t get any easier: sex. I don’t know why none of the major religions deal with this directly, though it’s always implied: ‘right actions’, ‘thou shalt not commit adultery’, etc., but this is just beating around the bush, no pun intended. The fact is that our Western-oriented system of values puts sex right at the top, even when that is re-cast as ‘love’. It’s really still pretty much the same thing—passion. See the beautiful patterns in a leaf? That’s love. Baby’s smile? Love. What will be left when our civilization collapses? Same thing—love. Oh, boy… (More …)

I like it. I like it a lot–metaphors with meaning. Poets rock, or used to, anyway, though I’ll admit to always having been more aware of Larkin than actually reading his stuff. Something sticks in my mind from him, though, will have to look for it. Thanks for your comments!

Remember back in the 60’s and 70’s when good citizens used to rail against sex and violence on American TV? Fast forward fifty years and the only thing that’s changed is that the TV must share turf with Internet, while the sex and violence have increased many-fold to the point that we’re inured to it. Remember when we used to rail against police brutality? Unfortunately liberalism is pretty much dead, and that’s not such a good thing…

Love is funny; I can barely conceal my laughter. Originally it was most likely conceived in the mind of God as a cheap parlor trick to get us up off our collective ass and reproduce–or so the Darwinists might have it, if they bothered to believe in God, which most don’t, and still felt the need to back-fill the ‘reasons’ for natural selection, which most do…

Otherwise we’d just look at each other naked, go “yeah, right,” then roll back over and go to sleep. But mix up a witch’s brew of warmth and fuzziness, and… and… comeliness, desire and a certain ‘je ne sais quoi’, and you’ve really got something…

Since those humble beginnings love has certainly ‘gone viral’. Entire religions–like Christianity–are based on the promises of its premises, and still others weigh in heavily against its celebrated aphrodisiacal qualities. Still others kill for it, and many more die for it. It gets ugly. That ‘love’ sh*t really caught on, didn’t it? (More …)

Hello karges, still we hang in. Do you remember robert and Vicki list? We did have fun sailing with him. Did’nt he hAve a covered wagon type camper top on his pick em up truck? Vicki and i went to several classes together. Are either of them alive? Neither of us has been the same since our tragic accidents in jan. Please write me personally and let me know how you are doing theses days. Love, mmkc marymarga@gmail.com. Goodbye for now.

Nature vs. Nurture is one of the great debates of history and science, at least since the origin of the science of genetics, i.e. whether human lives are more the product of genetics or experience. This is closely related to the previous philosophical debate of free will vs. determinism. The subject is literally something of a ‘chicken vs. egg’ question, though, largely unanswerable and ultimately futile, that egg and that coop both necessary and more or less equal. So let’s call it a draw.

It turns out we have far fewer genes—a mere few tens of thousands—than would account for the variety of human and biological experience, and many of those only come into play when ‘turned on,’ oh baby. If the hand you’re dealt cannot really be changed (would you even want to? That’s YOU), then the hand you play is (almost) infinitely open-ended, so fair enough. If you’re lucky you may even get to throw a few cards away and request some new ones. Bottom line: get off your ass and create your life.

especially in humans; evolutionary success is reproductive success.Sexual and genital obsession is normal, but most people aren’t honest about it, as if there’s something dirty about it, or simply childish.Humans rule the earth, not necessarily because we’re smarter, but because we fuck like rabbits.We have to compete with bacteria, after all, and their turn-around time for a complete generation is about a half-hour, depending on your deodorant.We can kill them, of course, but they can kill us, too.Does increased intelligence coincide with increased sex drive?Mine does.The hornier I get, the smarter I have to be to drive the point home to some unsuspecting victim, usually my wife.It’s a game.They say some of the people with the highest IQ’s are prostitutes and other so-called sexual degenerates.They say the root word that gave birth to the word ‘sophisticate’ originally referred to prostitutes, the original Greek Sophists I supposedly.The Thai word for such, presumably derived through Sanskrit, ‘sophenee’, would agree with that.Somehow I think it all got confused with the concept of ‘worldliness’.Either you’re impressed or you’re not.That’s probably why Jesus admonished his followers to be as children.Once you think you’ve got it all figured out, then you’re in real trouble spiritually.If you think you’re clever because you’ve figured out that you can make money with your moneymaker, then think again.You’re getting paid to do things others won’t stoop to, things others won’t take lying down, things others won’t sit still for.It has little to do with IQ.There were already a lot of pragmatists on the streets these days; now there are sophisticates, too.